Not Everything Has To Be Measured In Money

I’m always a little surprised at how much everything in our society is measured in terms of money. We measure our worth by our salaries, not by how much we love our work. We measure our remodeling projects by how much we can get back when we sell and not on how much we love the changes. We measure our collections by how much they may bring one day at auction, not by how much we enjoy the things we’re collecting. We look at our hobbies to see if they can become a source of income, not just as pleasures to be enjoyed. Houses are chosen based on their potential to increase in value, not because they are comfortable places to live. It seems as though anything “worthwhile”

A friend of mine bought her dream home about 3 years ago. Her plan is to live in this house for the rest of her life, so every choice she and her husband made about finishes and colors came purely from what they liked. Every time they picked a high end finish, their real estate agent told them how well that would do on resale – she had to tell him a few times to stop, that she didn’t care about resale because she wasn’t planning to ever move. She has a lovely house that if they should ever have to move will probably sell easily because of the choices she’s made, but that they still enjoy living in every day.

I like to watch house hunting shows. Some of these houses have beautiful granite counters, ceramic tile on the floor, etc and the couples buying the houses still tear it out and install something else because it didn’t fit their tastes. I don’t think I’ll go crazy with my choices in my future home, but I’ll always remember that there is no guarantee if I install something just for resale value, that the buyer won’t rip it out to replace it with something taste specific.

I believe this condition is a side effect of the American dream of becoming successful and wealthy or keeping up with the Jones’s as many people put it. Being happy with your decisions seems to fall on a thin line between logic and desire. The couple liked one tile and chose the other because of what they thought other people would want which just means they want the most for their money and were willing to decrease their level of happiness to get there. A person has to be convinced there is more to life than money before they will act based on what they love

As far as career planning goes, I think many people would benefit from the time spent devising a career strategy. Included in that would be defining what it is they value in a career, comparing these to the other things they value, and then acknowledging that there will be some kind of a trade-off.

For example, if money is most important to you and you’re willing to work long hours and give up time with your family for a few years to be able to spend more time with them later, then there are specific careers you can pursue that have these characteristics.

If you don’t value the money very much and instead want to have flexibility in your work schedule, then there are specific careers you can pursue that have these characteristics.

There are all kinds of careers out there, you just have to get your priorities in order and figure out what amount of the things you value are going to make you happy in the long run.